In one aspect this invention relates to fasteners for attaching items to a substrate. In a further aspect, this invention relates to coated, metallic circuit cards and means to conduct current from one surface coating to the opposite face and not diminish any thermal transfer.
Heat is a particularly destructive condition for circuit card components. In certain applications, particularly in military vehicles and more especially combat vehicles, there is severely limited space for air flow and the vehicles are also subjected to extreme environmental heat under many combat conditions. Failure of a particular card can result in mission failure and death to vehicle users. To combat this problem, the military may use specialized metallic circuit cards that are engineered to enhance heat dissipation. Such cards have insulating layers on each face or surface to isolate the circuit trails from the metallic cards. However, enhanced heat dissipation along the card is of lessened value unless it is possible to further dissipate the heat from the card to the vehicle body in which the card is mounted.
Generally the cards are mounted to a vehicle by means of threaded fasteners or rivets. While such devices are frequently made of metal and provide some heat transfer it is also necessary to electrically insulate the fastener or current feed through from the metallic circuit board substrate in order isolate the electrical circuits on the board's surface.